Pan fried lemon sole with samphire and parsley butter

Samphire is everywhere at the moment. I had it with fish at three different restaurants last week and I can’t get enough if it. So when I was getting my fish from the Waitrose fish counter at the weekend, I was very happy to see a pack of the delicious green edible plant sat next to the fish. I chose two filets of lemon sole and grabbed a pack and a lemon to go with it.

I was very looking forward to my Monday evening dinner but was left slightly disappointed with the samphire. I followed the cooking instructions on the pack but the stalks were quite hard and a small amount was inedible. Only a very small amount though so the meal was not ruined. I can’t expect cooking with a new ingredient to be perfect first time, so as with most things, practice makes perfect!

1. Make the parsley, garlic and chilli butter by placing into a food processor and blitzing until smooth. Set aside in the fridge until ready to use.
2. Preheat a pan on a medium heat for the fish – season the skin of the fish with salt and black pepper.
5. Melt a knob of butter in another pan and place the samphire in to wilt. Cook on a medium heat for 4 minutes, or until soft. You still want a little bit of a crunch.
6. As soon as the samphire is in the pan, place the fish skin side down into the other hot pan and season with black pepper. Cook for around three minutes, add the parsley butter and a squeeze of lemon and flip the fish over to cook on the flesh side for 30 seconds.
7. Place the samphire on the plate and top with the fish.
8. Serve with buttered potatoes and seasonal veg – yum!